Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Trees sighed. “I haven’t been able to focus on much else.”
“You better get your head on right for this mission. It’s going to be dangerous as hell. I hear we’re outnumbered five-to-one—at least.”
Fuck. Zy was right. If Trees didn’t want to end up dead, he’d better fucking focus. “Yeah.”
“How did Tessa take you leaving suddenly?”
“She’s all right. Nervous. Hallie cried, and that didn’t make anything easier. But my girls are tough.”
They were. Tessa had been through a lot while protecting her infant daughter. They would be okay. And Trees would do his best to make sure Zy stayed okay.
It occurred to him that nearly everyone present had a reason to stay frosty and come home alive—a wife, kids, siblings, parents—people who loved them.
Trees would go home alone.
Fuck that, he would find Laila, track her sexy ass down, and make her pay—in his dungeon, in his bed, under his cock. If she wanted to fuck for her survival, he would happily oblige her. After he killed Victor Ramos.
It wasn’t much longer before the silhouette of the hacienda came into view. Dawn was a couple of hours away. Night had swallowed up the other team a while ago. Hunter, Deke, and Logan had all trekked ahead of them, heads together, strategizing. Zy jogged to catch up. Trees followed suit.
Hunter turned to them. “The stables are just inside the edge of the property, about three hundred yards ahead. There are five rows of six stables each.”
“Who the hell keeps thirty horses?” Zy asked.
“The bigger question is, why would anyone have thirty stables but zero horses?” Hunter drawled. “When we get there, we’ll fan out. Zy, you’ll come with me on the north side. Logan will take Deke and Trees and wind to the south. Both teams will work their way to the middle. It’s heavily fortified, gentlemen. Stay low and stay aware. They aren’t fucking around.”
“Neither are we,” Logan added darkly.
“Let’s go get my kitten,” Deke growled, his voice gravelly and harsh.
Trees sipped some water out of the pack he’d strapped on in the barn. “Let’s do it.”
Before Hunter and Zy broke off, they all slipped comm devices in their ears and checked them. Then Trees bumped fists with his best friend, hoping like hell they all came out of this in one piece.
The night was silent as they crept to the stables. The wind whipped up, masking the sounds of their footsteps. They clung to shadows. Since disturbances and loud noises would bring every thug running, the team understood that guns were a last resort. Still, Trees had his handy as he watched Logan and Deke’s six while they approached the first line of stables.
For a “retired” guy, Logan was a stealthy motherfucker, taking down the first guard, slumped against the wall, eyes closed. Deke took down his partner, enjoying a smoke out back. After they dragged the bodies into an empty stable, ripped out their comm devices, then zip-tied their hands and taped shut their mouths, they secured the door.
Why did stables where no one kept horses come equipped with doors that locked and windows with bars, like a prison?
The question swirled in his head as they scoured the rest of the stables in that row, avoiding the obvious panning of security cameras above. As one swung back to the interior of the estate, toward the pool in the distance, they filed through the darkness to the next row.
The first guard saw them coming. Before he could alert his cohorts, Logan tossed a blade at the suit, hitting him right in the heart. He fell to the ground, his mouth still open with an unspoken syllable. Deke carried his corpse into the nearest stall and kicked him into the corner, out of sight.
In the back of Trees’s head, he heard a ticking clock. They’d been at this less than two minutes, and all was still quiet…but how long before someone called out to a guard who no longer answered? How long before they came to investigate and all hell broke loose?
Another guard stepped out of the john, yanking up his zipper, then stretching like he didn’t have a care in the world. Trees crept behind him and twisted his neck. He fell back into Trees’s grip with a gasp, deader than dead. Since the can was closest, he shuttled the asshole back on the toilet and locked the door.
When he emerged, he waited behind the door until the security camera turned to scan the opposite direction. Logan and Deke were taking down a pair of thugs. Deke all but carved out a guy’s throat, then tossed him in a stable. Logan dragged another guard in next and pointed a gun under his chin. When he gave a head bob and pointed to the guy’s comm, Trees quickly divested the thug of his equipment in silence and squashed the earpiece beneath his heel.